Camshaft modules serve for accommodating at least one or preferably two camshafts in an arrangement parallel to one another, and the camshafts may be installed in a ready-to-use state into the module housing or may be subjected to finish machining only after having been installed. The camshaft module may then be arranged, as a ready-for-operation module, for example on the cylinder head of an internal combustion engine, such that the cam elements of the camshafts can interact with the pick-off elements for the purposes of controlling the valves. Here, use is also made of adjustable camshafts in an arrangement in a camshaft module, and adjustable camshafts comprise displacement elements, and it is advantageously possible for the camshafts to be arranged by way of the displacement elements in bearing bridges of the module housing. Here, the displacement elements bear the cam elements and a switching element for the axial displacement of the displacement element on a carrier tube. The displacement is realized by way of actuator pins which can interact with the switching elements in order to switch the displacement element back and forth between, for example, two or three axial positions. In this way, it is possible for the pick-off elements to interact with cam elements of different cam contours in order to actuate the valves with different timings.
Multiple displacement elements may be accommodated, in alignment on a common central axis, in a module housing, which displacement elements are rotatable about a common central axis, it only subsequently being possible for a toothed shaft to be led through the displacement elements in order to drive these in rotation conjointly and in order to ultimately form a ready-for-use camshaft. For this purpose, it is firstly provided for each displacement element to be accommodated in a dedicated bearing bridge, which bearing bridges are formed in the module housing. In order to accommodate the displacement elements in the bearing bridges, said displacement elements must be of split form, because it is generally the case that cam elements are arranged on both sides of the interposed bearing section. Since the bearing section of the displacement element, which is generally formed by the outer side of the carrier tube or by a bearing ring mounted thereon, is designed to be smaller than the cam elements, the displacement element cannot be readily introduced laterally, for example, into a non-split bearing section.
For example, DE 10 2004 011 586 A1 presents a camshaft module in which two camshafts with respective displacement elements can be accommodated. In order that the displacement elements can be accommodated in the bearing bridges, the bearing bridges are of split form. This gives rise to additional machining and assembly processes, and it is necessary for multiple individual parts to be provided, for example the screw elements for the screw connection of the bearing half-shells to the main body of the module housing. Furthermore, it must be ensured that the bearing half-shells are not interchanged during the assembly process. It is therefore desirable to provide a module housing with non-split bearing bridges into which the displacement elements can be inserted.